BY-LAWS
OF THE
REBUS CLUB OF HIBISCUS COAST
Membership of the Rebus Club of Hibiscus Coast shall be for male residents of the area known as
the Hibiscus Coast and surrounding district.
(a)
Honorary members may be elected at the discretion of and on such
terms as may be decided upon by a majority of members at an ordinary meeting. Honorary members shall not be required to pay
membership subscriptions, shall not be eligible to hold office, and shall not
be entitled to vote but shall enjoy all other privileges of membership.
(b)
Life membership may be conferred upon a member who has rendered
outstanding service to the Club. Nominations shall be submitted in writing to
the Management Committee for consideration and, if approved, referred to the
next general meeting of the Club where the recommendation must receive a two-thirds
vote in favour of all members present. Life
members shall not be required to pay membership subscriptions but shall enjoy
all other privileges of membership.
(c)
A
member of the Club is a person who has paid their annual subscription by
the due date, or other date at the discretion of the current Committee, or is a
Life member.
(a)
The Club shall be managed by the Management Committee, hereinafter called
"the Committee" normally comprising
of a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer plus a minimum of three
other Committee members. The Immediate
Past President shall be a member, ex-officio, of the Committee. The Committee is to be responsible for the
program, guest speakers, trips and entertainment, membership, Club bulletin and
publicity, Club website, door prizes, welfare, kitchen supply and refreshments
at Club meetings, together with such other activities as may be decided from
time to time by the Club. Not all of
these functions need necessarily be carried out by a person who is a Committee member, so long as a Committee member is assigned
to liaise with the person carrying out the function.
There
is no maximum number of Committee members, and Club members can be appointed to
sit on the Committee and carry out any of the management functions, or other
function, at the discretion of the Committee.
(b)
There is no limitation to the number of terms (consecutive
or otherwise) that a member can stand for election to Committee.
(c)
A vacancy on the Committee may be filled by action
of the Committee, and if during the course of the year the Club undertakes
additional activities as referred to in Article III(a), the Committee may
appoint additional members for the balance of that year.
(b)
Notice of the election of officers shall be given
at a general meeting of the Club at least one month before the election.
(c)
All nominations and acceptance of nominations shall
be in writing and signed by the nominators and candidates and shall be in the
hands of the Secretary before the commencement of the meeting at which the
election is scheduled. In the event that insufficient nominations are received to
fill the available positions, further nominations may be called for from the
floor. Any positions then remaining may
be filled during the year at the discretion of the Committee.
(d)
A returning officer and a scrutineer, neither of
whom are candidates for election, shall be appointed by the presiding officer
before the election begins.
(e)
Voting shall be by show of hands or by ballot as
decided by the members. The candidate
receiving the greatest number of votes of members present and voting in the
election for each office or committee position shall be declared elected.
(f)
If two candidates receive an equal number of votes,
the members shall decide the method by which the tie shall be resolved.
The financial year of this Club shall begin on 1
January and end on 31 December.
(a) General meetings of the Club shall be held monthly
at such time and place as the members decide.
(b) The Annual General Meeting (AGM) shall be held in
the month of March each year, at which the annual report and annual accounts
will be received.
(c) Meetings of the Committee shall be held monthly or
as otherwise determined by the Committee.
(d) A quorum at a general meeting where one or more
motions are voted on, including an AGM or EGM, shall be twenty-five percent of
the current membership excluding honorary members.
(e)
A quorum at a meetings of the Committee shall
be four persons, at least one of which is the President, Vice President,
Treasurer or Secretary.
(f) An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) may be called by the Committee or on the request in writing of not
less than twenty-five percent of the current membership. Notice of such a meeting shall be given to
members at least one month before the extraordinary general meeting is to be
held with a statement setting out the purpose for which the meeting has been
called and any motions submitted.
(g) Voting at a general meeting shall be by show of
hands or by ballot if required by a majority of members present. To be passed, an ordinary motion must receive
an affirmative vote of not less than half of the members present.
(h) Where there is an equal division of votes at a
committee meeting or a general meeting, the Chairman shall have a casting vote
in addition to a deliberative vote.
(i) The President or, in his absence or inability to do
so, the Vice President shall preside at all meetings. In the absence of both the President and Vice
President, the members present shall elect a Chairman of the meeting.
(j) Any Notice of Motion must be submitted in
writing to the Secretary and must be read to members at the meeting prior to
the meeting at which the motion is to be formally proposed.
(b) The Treasurer shall deposit all funds of the Club
in a bank, building society or other financial institution decided upon by the
Committee. Signatories shall be the
President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and/or such other committee
member as may be agreed with any two to operate the accounts.
(c)
In the event
there is a motion to wind up the Club, including the disposal of Club assets,
in accordance with Article IX of the Club’s Constitution, such a motion will be
voted upon at an AGM or EGM, a quorum being present and where an affirmative
vote of not less than three-quarters of the members present is required.
(b)
A joining fee for new members shall be payable, in
addition to the annual subscription, as determined at the AGM upon the
recommendation of the outgoing Committee.
(c)
Members joining between 30 September and 31 December
shall be charged half of the standard annual subscription.
(d)
Members joining between 1 January and the date of
the AGM shall pay only the joining fee.
(e)
The Committee may terminate the membership of any
member who has not paid the prescribed subscription within three months of the
AGM.
The President or his nominee should utilise the
attendance register records and periodically contact members with a history of
low attendance where no apology has been tendered, to ascertain the
circumstances surrounding their absence and where possible, seek to encourage
regular participation.
(a) These By-Laws may be amended at a general
meeting of the Club, a quorum being present, by the affirmative vote of not less
than three-quarters of the Members present voting, notice of such proposed
amendment having been published to all members at least twenty-one days before
such meeting.
(As amended March 2025)